Georgetown Recruiting, Notre Dame Recruiting, Rutgers Recruiting, Seton Hall Recruiting, St. John's Recruiting, Villanova Recruiting, Zach Smart

NIKE SUPER SIX REPORT< PART I

Tale of two half as St. Pat’s beats Lincoln

By Zach Smart

Bronx, N.Y.—Lance “Born Ready” Stephenson soared to the basket, fending off a defender with his left hand as he scooped in a layup.

When the official ruled the push-off an offensive foul, the 6-foot-5 Lincoln High senior came up fuming. He had a few choice words as he walked away from the referee.

On Lincoln’s ensuing possession, Born Ready jacked up a deep 3-point attempt that clanked off the rim before the first half buzzer sounded.

The sequence typified the way the first half played out for Stephenson (St. John’s, UCLA, Kentucky, Kansas, USC), one of the nation’s elite eight players. Stephenson scored 21 points and ripped down 10 rebounds, but hit just two of his first 10 shot attempts and struggled throughout the first half.

The combination guard’s frustration compounded in the first half, though it seemed to fuel him in the second.

Stephenson dribbled all over creation early on, running through brick walls in a sloppy, turnover-plagued first half for Lincoln.

St. Patrick’s capitalized on the Railsplitters’ torrent of turnovers, converting them into 15 fast break points.

In the second half, St. Pat’s overcame a valiant Lincoln comeback, en route to gutting out a 63-58 victory in the Nike Super Six at Fordham University’s Rose Hill Gym.

Dexter Strickland, a 6-foot-3 guard headed to North Carolina, scored 16 points—14 in the first half—on sizzling 6-for-6 shooting. Michael Gilchrist, the nation’s top-rated sophomore who’s being actively pursued by Georgetown, Seton Hall, Rutgers, Memphis, Oregon, and Baylor—to name a few—turned in a double-double.

Gilchrist, a versatile, 6-foot-7, 185-pound stringbean, dropped 10 points and pulled down 10 boards.

After trailing 31-23 at the half, the Celtics took an 18-point lead—their largest of the night—after Kevin Boyle Jr. got free for lay-in in the third quarter.

The Railsplitters came roaring back from the deficit, reeling off a 19-6 run that trimmed the Celtics lead to five in the fourth quarter.

Darwin “Buddah” Ellis picked up a steal and fired a crisp pass to Maryland-bound big man James Padgett, who finished strong while being hacked at the basket.

Padgett completed the traditional three-point play, as the Celtics lead shrunk to 56-51.

Standout sophomore Kylie Irving (Villanova, Rutgers, Notre Dame, Duke, Indiana, Seton Hall) scored on back-to-back layups, giving St. Pat’s a 60-51 cushion.

Irving, a 6-foot-2, 175-pound junior widely regarded as a top-five guard in his class, is major bait for the Big East. Celtics coach Kevin Boyle recently told NBE’s Matt Whitfield and other media members that Irving could be the best guard to come out of New Jersey after his recent performance in a win over St. Benedict’s.

An Ellis trey and an inside bucket from Born Ready cut it to 60-56. But Irving bumped the lead to 62-56 on a pair of freebies, and George Mason-bound big man Paris Bennett added an insurance free throw.

Lincoln, which fell out of the national rankings (their strength of schedule clearly got the better of them, losses to Boys & Girls HS and Jamesville DeWitt also hurt them), is now 0-3 against New Jersey opponents this season.

Hyperbolic headlines about the much-anticipated matchup between Stephenson and Gilchrist—the two blue chips—hung around the New York/New Jersey area all day.

But it was Irving and Strickland who essentially stole the show.

A deep pull up trey by Strickland capped a 10-1 run and staked St. Patrick’s to a 31-18 edge.

Moments later, the 5-foot-8 Ellis ripped off a personal 5-0 run with a long trey bomb and a buzzer beating layup that beat the halftime buzzer and swung the momentum pendulum in Lincoln’s direction as the teams retreated to their locker rooms.

Born Ready Staying Local? There’s much speculation that Stephenson, who has said he would like to revive the ailing St. John’s program, will pen with Norm Roberts. Born Ready’s parents attend every game and the opportunity to play close to home could be a seductive recruiting tool for Roberts.

According to SNY recruiting guru Adam Zagoria, however, Stephenson will take a visit to Kansas Feb.21.
“I’m thinking about going to play with Bill Self,” Stephenson told Zagsblog.com. “I think he’ll change me around and [make me] be a smarter player and more focused.”

Tiny Timing: Stephenson was dominating the ball with his patented, streetball flair when he was pick-pocketed. The steal triggered a fast break that ended in a Strickland dunk, giving St. Pat’s a 7-3 lead. A look at the Lincoln bench would instigate a double-take. There was no Dwayne “Tiny” Morton on the sidelines to give Stephenson and a Lincoln team that got off to a sloppy start an earful.

Then with 4:06 remaining in the first quarter, Tiny sauntered into the building and strolled right to the bench. It didn’t take the smurf-sized coach long to register his presence. He grew irate after witnessing back-to-back alley-oops cap an 8-0 burst.